N. Walters - Damek's Redemption

Not willing to linger any longer, Sonia stood, ignoring the sensual glide of the water over her sensitive skin. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body the moment she was out of the tub, not wanting to be naked and vulnerable in front of him. She scooped her clothing off the floor and fled to the bedroom as Damek was rising from the water like some pagan god.

The peek she caught of him had her heart racing. She wanted to lick the droplets of water off his broad chest and lap at the hard ridges of his stomach. Not to mention what she wanted to do with the hard shaft rising up from the nest of curls at his groin.

Oh, she was a mess. She dumped the garments on a chair and gathered the scattered remains of her clothing. Her suitcase, which was perched on the chest at the end of his bed, contained clean clothing. She was in the process of unzipping it when Damek strode into the room. No, not strode, glided. The man moved with the fluidity of a dancer, or a great cat, maybe a panther.

She shook her head, ignoring him as she pulled out clean clothing. He took them from her and tossed them back in her suitcase. “You don’t need that.”

She whirled and caught the ends of her towel, tucking them more securely around her. Damek wasn’t wearing a towel. Of course he wasn’t. The man was all sophistication and designer suits on the outside, but inside he was pure heathen and all male.

“And why not? I’m not putting dirty clothing back on.”

He scooped her up and headed to the bed, dumping her onto the sheets. “We need to sleep.”

“That’s fine,” she protested. “But I still need my nightgown.”

He climbed into bed beside her, wrapped his arm around her and yanked her down so her head was resting in the crook of his arm. He flung the covers over them, cocooning them in his massive bed. “No, you don’t.”

Sonia drummed her fingers on his chest. “Why do you get to choose what I wear?”

His hand caught hers, flattening her fingers against his stomach. “Because it’s my home.”

“I can leave.”

He sighed heavily, ruffling her curls. “No, you can’t. We’ve been through this before.”

“Yes, yes, I betrayed you. Big bad me.” She tried to pinch his stomach but there wasn’t enough excess skin to grab.

He rolled, taking her with him and stopping when she was flat on her back with him looming over her. She did her best to ignore the rather large erection resting against her belly, but it wasn’t easy.

She wasn’t touching him if he wasn’t going to put out. No way. She was sexually frustrated enough as it was, which should be impossible considering how many orgasms she’d already had tonight.

“Not just because of that. There could still be vampire hunters out there, and they know who you are.”

“I can protect myself. My family can protect me.” She knew she was baiting a wild beast but couldn’t help herself. Maybe it was because of the easy way he agreed that she betrayed him when she hadn’t, not at all. If anything, she wanted to protect him. Which was crazy considering what he was. He was deadlier then she and her family combined would ever be.

His hands tightened around her and he shook his head. “I don’t trust anyone but me.”

“That’s obvious.”

He shook his head and rolled away, leaving her cold and bereft. “Try to sleep. You can’t get out of the apartment without setting off an alarm.” His tone was distant and cool.

“What’s to stop me from staking your ass while you’re asleep?” Not that she’d ever do such a thing, but he couldn’t know that.

“Nothing.” She could hear the utter weariness in his voice. “There is nothing to stop you from trying.”

“Idiot male,” she muttered. Sonia punched her pillow a couple of times, pretending it was Damek. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. It had been a long night and had to be close to dawn, if not slightly past. It was difficult to tell with the blackout shades on the windows.

She huffed out a breath, closed her eyes and willed him to sleep. She was getting up the second he went under.

Damek could practically hear the wheels turning in Sonia’s head, but he didn’t try to read her thoughts. He didn’t have to, not with her muttering what she thought of him.

She was angry with him and sexually frustrated. That made two of them. He had no idea why he’d turned her down earlier. Instead of being hard and horny, he could have been sated and relaxed by now.

But some deep part of him he’d thought long gone, the part that believed in honor, didn’t want her to sleep with him because she was afraid of him. The thought of her giving herself to him out of fear haunted him. He couldn’t be sure if she was offering him her body because she truly wanted him or because she thought it might ease his anger with her betrayal of him.

He heard her mutter of “idiot male” again from beneath her breath and smiled in spite of his raging hard-on. Only Sonia spoke to him like he was a normal male. Everyone else feared him even if they had no idea why. Human instincts existed even though they’d been dulled by years of not being used. Everyone he interacted with on a daily basis, even other paranormals, all walked softly around him.

Everyone but Sonia.

He gave a sigh of relief when she finally settled down. He inhaled softly, taking her sweet scent, mingled with his soap, into his lungs. A tinge of arousal, musky and warm, made him groan. She was right. He really was an idiot.

He couldn’t fully trust her but he couldn’t let her go.

Oh, she might threaten to stake him while he was sleeping, but there was no way she could sneak up on him even when he was at rest. His instincts had been too well honed over the long centuries to allow that to happen. Plus, a stake to the heart would only piss him off. It would hurt like hell, but he would recover from such a wound. He’d evolved over the centuries to the point where only beheading would end his life. Direct sunlight might give him a hell of a burn and would weaken him immeasurably, but even that wouldn’t kill him.

Plus, he truly didn’t think she would try to murder him, no matter how angry she was with him. Maybe she hadn’t meant to betray him. Maybe she didn’t see the phone call in the same way he did. She was used to being in constant contact with her family and was only doing what came naturally to her.

Something to think about.

The sun was rising over the horizon. He couldn’t see it but he could feel it in his blood, in his bones. He sighed and gave in to the healing sleep of his kind. If Sonia woke and saw him, he would appear dead to her, but he didn’t think that would frighten her. She was tough, his Sonia.

His lips twitched into a tiny smile as sleep claimed him. When they both awoke, they would have a lot to discuss.

Luther glanced over at the man sitting beside him in the truck. Barnes was sipping coffee, looking a hell of a lot bit better than he had earlier. He sipped his own coffee and watched the building just down the road from them. It was filled with expensive condos, but he was only concerned with the penthouse suite. That was the only one with a private entrance, so it had to belong to the vampire.

His phone rang and Luther answered it quickly, hungry for news. “Talk to me, Aaron.”

“It’s a hell of a system.”

There was admiration in Aaron’s voice and it pissed Luther off. “But you can bypass it.” It wasn’t really a question, as there wasn’t a security system out there that Aaron Page couldn’t hack given enough time. The man was pure magic when it came to electronics.

“It will take me a while, but I should be in by noon.”

“Perfect. Keep me posted.” He ended the call and tucked his phone back into his pocket.